My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Once again denied winning his 250th start, Jamie Moyer is knocked out of the box early as the Phils lose to the Mets, 7-5, in spite of another Phillies’ attempt at a late come back.

The Mets once again deny Jamie Moyer a chance at winning his 250th career start by knocking him out of the box in the third inning, then held on to keep the Phils from performing another come-from-behind win, as the Phils fall to the Mets, 7-5, losing the two-games series in New York.

The Phillies scored first in the first inning, as, with a runner on second, and two men out, Ryan Howard hits an RBI double, scoring Jimmy Rollins, who had earlier singled and had gone to second on Chase Utley’s ground out, 4-3, giving the Phils a 1-0 lead. The Mets would take the lead in their half of the first, when, with one man on, and one man out, Carlos Beltran hits a two-runs home run, his fifth home run of the year, knocking in Luis Castillo, who had earlier walked, and then stole second base, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead. Two batters later, with a runner on second and still one man out, David Wright hits a two-run home run of his own, his third home run of the year, knocking in Carlos Delgaldo, who had earlier doubled, making it 4-1 Mets. The Mets made it 5-1 in the second, as, with one man out, Jose Reyes hits a solo home run, his second home run of the year. The Met added to their lead in the third, as, with the bases loaded via a hit batter (Delgado) and two singles (Wright and Fernando Tatis) and one man out, Ramon Castro hits a two-run double, knocking in both Delgado and Wright, and sending Tatis to third, giving the Mets a 7-1 lead. That would be the game for Phils’ starter Jamie Moyer, as Charlie Manuel would take him out and replace him with J.A. Happ. Happ proceeded to shut the Mets down by getting Mets’ starter Mike Pelfrey to ground out, 6-3 and strike out Reyes looking, to end the inning with no further damage. The Phils then started to chip away at the Mets’ lead. In the fourth, they made it 7-2 Mets, as, with a runner on second, and no outs, Raul Ibanez hits an RBI single, scoring Jayson Werth, who had earlier singled, and had stolen second base. The Phils would make it 7-3 Mets in the sixth, as, with one out, Howard hits a solo home run to right center field, his sixth home run of the season. The Phils then cut the Mets’ lead down to 7-5, as, with a runner on third, and two outs, Werth hits a two-run home run, his fifth home run of the season, scoring Shane Victorino, who had earlier singled, had gone to second base on Utley’s ground out, 4-3, being called safe on Reyes’ interference error, which would lead to Mets’ manager Jerry Manuel’s ejection from the game for arguing the call and hitting the umpire with the bill of his cap, and moving on to third on Howard’s ground out, also 4-3. In the ninth inning, the Phillies had a runner on second, Matt Stairs, who had a pinch hit walk and went to second on defensive indifference, and two outs, with Rollins at the plate, representing the tying run. Rollins would end the game by poping out to second, as Mets’ closer Francisco Rodriguez recorded his ninth save of the year and his fourth in four straight games.

Jamie Moyer took the lost as he is once again denied his 250th career win. He would go only two and one-third innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits, two walks and a hit batter, while striking out only one. His record is now 3-2 with a 7.26 ERA. J.A. Happ pitched three and two-thirds strong innings of relief, giving up only two hits, while striking out two. Clay Condrey pitched a scoreless inning, only giving up a hit and a walk. Jack Taschner also pitched a scoreless inning, striking out a batter. Mike Pelfrey took the win as he pitched seven strong innings, giving up just three runs on eight hits and a walk. His record is now 4-0 with an ERA of 5.46. Pedro Feliciano pitched an inning, giving up two runs on two hits. Francisco Rodriguez recorded his ninth save of the year, and his fourth save in four straight games, as he pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up only a walk.

The Phillies had ten hits in the game, with Jayson Werth leading the team with four hits, two singles, a double and a home-run, knocking in two runs and scoring two, raising his season average to .284. Ryan Howard followed with two hits, a double and a home run, knocking in two runs. Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Raul Ibanez and Pedro Feliz had the other four Phillies’ hits, all singles. Ibanez knocked in the Phils other run. Once again, starting pitching has done in the Phillies, as the relief corps had to once again come in early to shut down the opposition, giving the Phillies’ bats time to chip away at the lead. Sadly, the Phils were unable to overcome the Mets’ lead, but the comeback still put the rest of the National League on notice that this is a ballclub that refuses to quit.

The Phils (14-12, 1st) come back home, still in first place in the National League East, to start a three-games weekend home stand with the Braves (13-15, 4th). The first game of the three-games series will be played tonight at Citizens Bank Park, with a start time of 7:05 pm Eastern. The Phils will send to the mound their ace Cole Hamels, who is recovering from an injury to his left foot, which he had rolled over trying to field a bunt on April 28 against the Nationals. In that game, he was dominating the Nationals before his mishap, having shut them down for four and a third innings, giving up just four hits and two walks, while striking out four, as he received a no-decision in the Phillies’ 7-1 blow out win. He is still looking for his first win, while the Phillies hope that he will once again dominate opposing batters while not suffering another freak injury. The Braves will counter with Jo-Jo Reyes (0-1, 5.00), who is coming off a no-decision of his own, as he pitched five and a third innings against the Astros on May 3, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out three, in the Braves’ 7-5 lost. He is also looking for his first win. The Phils hope to win the weekend series with the Braves, before starting their first series of the year with the now-Manny Ramirez-less Los Angeles Dodgers.

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